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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24991666">ashes of angels</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae'>jillyfae</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>live by love: codas &amp; interludes [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>BAMF Magnus Bane, Canon Compliant, Case Fic, During the Time Skip, Episode: s03e22 All Good Things..., Hurt Alec Lightwood, Lightwood Family, M/M, Politics, The Circle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:14:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24991666</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While things are possibly better for the Shadow World than they've ever been before, old prejudices die hard, and remnants of the Circle are determined to strike back at Alec Lightwood,  the symbol of everything they think has gone wrong for them and their people. But the world has changed more than they realize, and no one is willing to sit back and let them get away with it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>live by love: codas &amp; interludes [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1191187</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>119</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>345</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>SHBingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichelleMisfit/gifts">MichelleMisfit</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halmaithor/gifts">Halmaithor</a>.</li>

        <li>
          Translation into Русский available: 
            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30181638">ashes of angels</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batty_Blue/pseuds/Batty_Blue">Batty_Blue</a>
        </li>


    </ul><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: Fuck Or Die</p><p>OR THE THIRD OPTION: Magnus Bane Says "NO"</p><p>/basically I couldn't write a PWP like I'd originally wanted, and dealing with how upset Magnus would be at the whole FoD situation gave us... this.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alec goes unnaturally still next to him, and when Magnus turns to look, <em>to ask,</em> Alec jerks back, just enough to make sure they don't accidentally touch. </p><p>He's holding a glass, lifted up as if he was about to take a drink.</p><p>Or just <em>had</em>. </p><p>Magnus feels his jaw clench, has to close his eyes to think about how to speak, to make sure he keeps his voice down, quiet, controlled. "Your drink?"</p><p>"Pixie dust."</p><p>His heart stops, and he sees Alec's eyes dilate as his glamour falls. </p><p>
  <em>Shit. </em>
</p><p>He's not sure he's ever been so angry in his entire fucking life<em>,</em> but he can't lose his temper, not here in the middle of a formal Clave function, not now, not when Alec's got a very short window of time during which an antidote will still be effective.</p><p>If Alec hadn't somehow recognized it, if anyone had touched him, if there'd been any skin contact at all... </p><p>Magnus knows about five different spells he can use to track the path of the pixie dust; it's a <em>magical</em> poison with a very unique profile, but he doubts he'll be able to do anything quietly or quickly enough for it to help <em>right now. </em></p><p>He manages to focus enough for a stasis spell, wraps it around the glass and sends the whole thing into the safe back at the loft. </p><p>Alec blinks, makes a pleased little hum as he flexes the fingers of his now empty hand, and he leans forward, closer to Magnus, like a moth entranced by a flame.</p><p>Magnus swallows a snarl, because even knowing it's half the damn aphrodisiac, he wants to lean in too, because it's <em>Alexander.</em> Magnus has to blink his eyes and force a long slow inhale before he starts either crying or swearing. </p><p>He summons two sets of gloves, and when Alec just stares at them without moving, his cheeks starting to flush very slightly pink, Magnus magics them <em>on,</em> and carefully wraps his hand around Alec's wrist, his glove-wrapped hand over his sleeve <em>just in case. </em></p><p>"Come on, let's get out of the Hall, and I'll portal us home. I have everything we need in the apothecary."</p><p>"Oh." Alec pouts, and Magnus knows he's far enough gone already to <em>want</em> to ride out the side-effects, to have the poison fucked out of him. Pixie dust is notoriously fast acting. <em>Hells,</em> if Magnus had stepped away at just the wrong moment? </p><p>Alec keeps talking, stops him from imagining that in any more detail. "But it's <em>you.</em>"</p><p>Magnus swallows, because Alec's eyes are wide and glassy and he knows that Alec means it, that this is as much Alec as it is the drug, that he doesn't care about the fact that someone's trying to kill him in a particularly vicious and humiliating manner, that they were hoping that even if he didn't die he'd be <em>ruined, </em>that instead he trusts Magnus to take care of him. Magnus' chest aches; it hurts, how little Alec values himself in his own calculations. The fact that he trusts Magnus more than anyone else ever has isn't quite enough to soothe. "You've been drugged. You don't get to make that decision right now."</p><p>Alec tries to pull back, as if he wants to cross his arms over his chest to go with the frown deepening on his face, but Magnus doesn't let go. Magnus starts moving instead, his grip as firm as he can get it without it being too obvious that he's dragging Alec out of there. He hears Alec mutter <em>that's dumb,</em> but it's quiet enough Magnus can ignore it. </p><p>He foregoes his original plan of taking the proper exit and looking for a quiet hallway. He's not sure they'll make it that far without someone wanting to talk to the Head of the New York Institute, either innocuously or because they're in on it and haven't gotten the reaction from the drug that they want yet, so he side-steps towards the stairs to the musician's gallery instead. </p><p>No one's using it, not for this particular reception, and for once he's glad that Alicante is as pretentious and old-fashioned as possible, because most of their larger buildings still have lots of extra hallways and stairs for servants half-hidden all over the place. </p><p>They're usually glamoured and locked, of course, but Magnus doesn't give a good god-damn about <em>that. </em></p><p>He gets them through the door, and closes it behind them with a sigh of relief. </p><p>Alec's starting to sway, just a little, and Magnus swirls his free hand to snap up a portal a little more viciously than usual. He has to use more power than usual in order to get through Alicante's wards. He's desperately glad that no one besides Alec seems to have figured out that he can do that, now that he's been invited into the country as a Shadowhunter's spouse, even if it's just for events like these. </p><p><em>Stupid Nephilim.</em> They have no idea how half their own magic works... and thank all the angels and demons for that right about now, or they'd be in more trouble than Magnus dares to contemplate. "Alright, step forward, and think of home."</p><p>Alec nods, and Magnus pulls them through. </p><p>He sits Alec down in the apothecary. "Be a good boy, and hold onto the chair arms for me, will you? I have to see your hands."</p><p>Alec's mouth opens, his lips barely parted as he nods, a hint of a whine in his breath as he exhales. Magnus hates himself a little, using the suggestibility of the drug to keep him there, to keep him on edge, but he needs the time, needs Alec to cooperate. </p><p>He'd probably <em>like</em> being tied to the chair in this state, but the thought makes Magnus feel a little queasy, so he hopes he can get this done before that becomes necessary. </p><p>He does, though by how badly Alec's trembling, and the way the flush has deepened across his whole face, it's a very close call. Magnus has to use magic to hold Alec still enough to get him to drink the potion, and then he needs another boost to get him out of the chair and into pajamas and into bed, but all in all it's been less than an hour since he was dosed by the time he's asleep and recovering. </p><p>Magnus collapses into the chair next to the bed and puts his face in his hands. He's shaking, and his eyes are tearing up, but he can't tell if it's still rage or relief or something else entirely.</p><p>He gives himself half an hour of quiet hysterics, and by then the anger's steadied into something he can <em>use. </em></p><p>He needs Catarina to come sit with Alec.</p><p>He needs Isabelle and Jace for back-up.</p><p>He goes to get the glass to start tracking.</p><p>They have work to do. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: Kidnapping</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jace has to take a few minutes, after Magnus has given them the rundown and before they leave, to stand in the doorway of Alec's bedroom. He has to see it for himself, has to look at him, sleeping quietly, while Cat and Madzie play some incomprehensible kid's card-game at a small table they'd pulled into the room. </p>
<p>Alec will be fine.</p>
<p>Alec was almost really <em>really</em> not fine, and he'd barely noticed the odd flush of heat through the <em>parabatai</em> bond before Magnus had taken care of it. </p>
<p>Or more, he'd noticed, but he hadn't known what to <em>do</em> about it, and honestly if he'd called Magnus he just would have gotten in the way while he was making the antidote, so he's not sure what he's feeling guilty about, what he could have done, but still. It won't go away. </p>
<p>Izzy props her head on his shoulder to look into the room with him, tension clear in the way she stretches to fit rather than just looking around him like she normally would.</p>
<p>She probably feels guilty too, for even less reason.</p>
<p>He supposes it's one of the few things they share with Alec: guilt is a family sport, at this point. </p>
<p>He snorts.</p>
<p>Izzy pulls back and looks at him, eyebrows raised, but he just shakes his head.</p>
<p>"Let's go see if Magnus is ready."</p>
<p>Izzy nods, and they turn back to the apothecary.</p>
<p>He's never seen Magnus so furious. He's hiding it well; Jace doubts most people would be able to tell. He's too stiff, too controlled, and while his magic isn't visible, not really, Jace can feel it, pressure and heat in the air around him, like the waves of a mirage on an empty highway in the summer, swirling around Magnus until he looks like he might be a bit more than just half-demon.</p>
<p>Alec would probably say he looks half-angel, righteous and avenging.</p>
<p>Jace lets himself linger in that thought until he agrees with it. It doesn't take long. Anyone angry on Alec's behalf is clearly on the right side of history in Jace's opinion. </p>
<p>Magnus grins at them, baring his teeth. "Ready?"</p>
<p>"Ready," Izzy echoes, while Jace nods.</p>
<p>They stalk through Magnus' portal, right back into the middle of Alicante.</p>
<p><em>Not</em> in the middle of the Hall, though, but in an empty and slightly dusty stairwell. Izzy raises her eyebrows, and Magnus shrugs. "No reason to make it obvious to anyone who doesn't know that I can get in and out of Idris so easily, is there?"</p>
<p>"Are we going to let them think they pulled it off, then?" Jace asks. If Magnus couldn't have gotten Alec back to New York they might have. It's probably what they were counting on, risking a drug like that. Dead or humiliated, and they'd possibly have preferred the second one, considering.</p>
<p>Jace hates the Circle, and he hates that there are remnants of it still, even without Valentine, trying to undermine all the good Alec's doing. Trying to undermine Alec, just because they think they can.</p>
<p>Izzy wrinkles her nose at him, but he can tell she can see the appeal of running a con on the people they're hunting because she doesn't actually argue. They'd probably get to hit more people, selling it as grief at their loss; he has to admit a preference to any plan that gives him an excuse to let his own rage at someone threatening his <em>parabatai</em> go free.</p>
<p>Magnus tilts his head, considering. "I'm not sure I could keep my temper if I let that idea out, even in the hypothetical." </p>
<p><em>Fair enough. </em>Jace nods. </p>
<p>Not that he's against turning half of Alicante into a crater at this point, but it would make Alec's job harder, once he's better. </p>
<p>"Avoiding the direct approach," Jace says, only half a question. Alec can pull off the direct approach when dealing with the Clave; Jace has never seen anyone else manage it.</p>
<p>"You have a rune for tracking magic, yes?" Magnus asks, and they activate their <em>spiritum</em> runes. Jace blinks. Magnus looks even more other-worldly with hints of red and blue and black sparking in the aura around him. </p>
<p>Magnus holds out a hand, and a ball of sickly yellow-green magic forms in his palm. "Here's the signature for the pixie dust. Whoever handled it will have traces around their hands, and probably whatever pocket or bag it was in."</p>
<p>"They won't let their guard down around us." Izzy flicks her fingers towards Jace. "Even if we are dressed for the occasion." They're in formal clothes, weapons hidden as well as glamoured so no one will see them. Jace is 99% sure the fancy stick in her hair is sharpened to work as well as a dagger, and he knows she's more than capable of stabbing people with the heels on her shoes, too. He's a little jealous; he'll have to pick her brain after this, to figure out what else he could hide in his formal gear next time he has to dress up. </p>
<p>Magnus winks, and Jace feels the warm wash of magic across his skin. It feels <em>almost</em> like a glamour rune, but... lighter? He looks over at Izzy to see how she's taken it, and his eyes just... skip over her face, somehow filing her away as unimportant.</p>
<p>He blinks, and it happens again.</p>
<p>Izzy whistles softly. "How does that work if we actually talk to them?"</p>
<p>"They'll think you look vaguely familiar, but that's about it," Magnus says. "It's more of a <em>don't look, nothing interesting here</em> misdirect than a full-glamour with a false image, so it's much less likely that it will occur to them to try and look through it."</p>
<p>"But if they do?" Izzy asks. </p>
<p>"Then we do the direct approach," Jace answers.</p>
<p>"Hopefully not? But..." Magnus concedes to that back-up plan with a graceful shrug of shoulders and wide-spread hands. "Good luck."</p>
<p>"We don't need luck, we have you." Izzy drops a quick kiss on Magnus' cheek, and she and Jace step out into the party. </p>
<p>They do a full circuit of the room, nodding politely and pretending to sip at the drinks they snagged off a server. They spot one person with green fingers right away, a man in an almost aggressively nondescript suit, but they make sure there's nothing else before they move; they wouldn't want to miss something by acting too quickly.</p>
<p>Alec would be proud of them. </p>
<p>Jace is rather proud of them, too, especially when they find a trail of magic that leads to the serving station behind the hall, and a tiny cabinet under the staging table that <em>still has stuff in it.</em> </p>
<p>Izzy locks it up under her own rune, so no one besides them can get to it. </p>
<p>They go back to the Hall, and Jace finds a good vantage point, half-way between their prey and the gallery door. </p>
<p>Izzy takes the <em>almost</em> direct approach; she flirts.</p>
<p>After about thirty seconds, Jace wonders if they'd even needed the <em>don't see me</em> Magnus had laid on them, because he's relatively sure the idiot's eyes never move higher than Izzy's breasts. (Which is entirely the point of her outfit, of course, but he's still always kind of horrified by how easily it works.)</p>
<p>She manages to work their target almost to the door all on her own before he apparently remembers that he has a job of some sort that he's still supposed to be doing. By then it's too late, and even as the idiot starts to demur and look around, Jace is already up on his other side, and they frog-march him out of the room before he has a chance to do more than inhale in surprise.</p>
<p>And then he sees Magnus, and he opens his mouth as if to yell, and Magnus does something with a wave of his hand that makes the man sag so suddenly that Jace staggers under the sudden weight pulling at him. </p>
<p>Izzy snorts, and shifts her feet to steady herself. "That's one way to keep him quiet."</p>
<p>Magnus shrugs, and waves his hands again.  </p>
<p>The magic slides off Jace's skin, and he watches the weird mirage haze swirl move around the man between them instead.</p>
<p>There are a few blue and red sparks, and a Circle rune appears on his neck. </p>
<p>"There's a tracker spell in his pocket," Magnus points. Jace reaches in to pull out what looks like a bus station key, a blue spark of Magnus' magic spiralling around it. </p>
<p>"I'll put it in the cabinet with the rest of his stuff," Izzy holds out her hand. "That way it'll still be here at the party if anyone checks."</p>
<p>Jace hands it over. </p>
<p>"You stay here and keep an eye on it, will you?" Magnus asks. "Jace and I will get this fellow settled."</p>
<p>Magnus makes yet another portal, Izzy helps them get the man through, and then she slips away. </p>
<p>They're back in the loft again; the guest room, this time. They drop the man on the bed with a soft <em>whump</em>. </p>
<p>Catarina pokes her head around the door, sees the man on the bed, and raises her eyebrows. Jace can't tell what she's thinking, but she seems neither upset nor particularly surprised. She clearly sees the Circle rune. "Let me know if you need any help with him."</p>
<p>"Of course," Magnus agrees, and she closes the door behind her after she leaves. </p>
<p>Magnus looks at Jace.</p>
<p>Jace waits.</p>
<p>"I need a second opinion," Magnus starts.</p>
<p>Jace shakes his head. "If you really wanted a second opinion you would have asked Izzy. You know what you want to do, what you think is necessary, and I'm telling you now that it doesn't matter if Alec would think it's crossing a line, I'll back you."</p>
<p>Magnus stills, and then he smiles, and it's not a nice expression. </p>
<p>Jace grins back. </p>
<p>"I'm going to take his memories, because that Circle rune will stop him from telling us anything, even if we somehow convinced him that he wanted to."</p>
<p>Jace nods. </p>
<p>"The only way to do it <em>without</em> the Circle rune interfering with the spell, is to rip them out so quickly that the rune can't activate."</p>
<p>Jace nods again. That tracks, with the way Hodge had been able to talk about the Circle <em>just a little,</em> while still wearing the slightly modified version of the rune that the Clave had left on him for his punishment. </p>
<p>"He'll be a vegetable." </p>
<p>Jace nods, a third and final time, and Magnus' shoulders ease, as if he'd really thought Jace might have a problem with that. Jace can't have that. "You know, if they'd drugged you instead of him, Alec would have stolen the damn Soul Sword and shredded the man's mind himself, if that was what it took to help you."</p>
<p>Magnus' smile softens, but it's sad instead of relieved. "That doesn't mean he'll accept it when it's done for him."</p>
<p>Jace shrugs. "He will once I yell at him a little."</p>
<p>Magnus snorts. </p>
<p>"Stop stalling," Jace waves at the unconscious man. "We've got a conspiracy to unravel before my <em>parabatai</em> wakes up. Think how pleased he'll be that I helped clean up a mess instead of making one for once."</p>
<p>Magnus snorts again, and turns to start his spell. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: Proposal</p><p>(Not as in weddings, but as in: I have an idea! I think you'll hate it!)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In slightly less time than she'd been expecting, (during which nothing at all had happened), Jace shows back up at the party, stepping to her side with yet another (full and untasted) drink between his fingers. </p><p>"Someone's got to realize that plan A failed by now," Izzy says. "We should take everything in the cabinet with us."</p><p>Jace pats the side of his jacket. "Magnus gave me something to help with that."</p><p>"Are there gloves, too?"</p><p>"Of course," Jace rolls his eyes at her. "You do not need to re-terrify me into proper forensic procedure, it stuck the first time."</p><p>Jace had already had pretty much every possible proper procedure terrified into him when he'd first come to them; it had been so delightful when he'd first started to throw them off, to realize he didn't have to be "perfect" in order to be family, that she didn't think any of them realized when the two of them first started going too far. </p><p>It's nice, now that they had a better balance, to know that he blames her for the few that stuck. "Glad to hear it," she offers him a patently false grin, and they go to collect their evidence and head back to the loft.</p><p>She wonders at what this is costing Magnus; four or five portals in and out of Alicante, plus whatever he'd done to help Alec, and whatever else he'd done to their poisoner when they'd kidnapped him. She knows he's powerful, but there has to be an end limit <em>somewhere. </em></p><p>Not that he won't push past it for Alec's sake, but Alec wouldn't thank them if he wakes up to find his husband collapsed from magical exhaustion. </p><p>"Magnus doing all right?" Izzy asks as she unlocks the rune she'd set earlier, and slips her stele back out of sight.</p><p>Jace shakes out a silk bag full of separate pockets. It looks like it's designed to keep the magical signatures of whatever is put in it separate. He lifts his attention from the bag and just <em>looks</em> at her rather than answering. </p><p>She supposes she deserves that.</p><p>"I meant magically," she clarifies as she pulls her gloves on, letting the bottoms snap just a little against her wrists. It's such a satisfying little sound; makes her feel more in control of things. </p><p>Jace shrugs, his shoulders move but it's not enough to shift the angle of his hands. He keeps the bag open and steady between them. "Catarina was making him tea when we left? I think they've got it under control."</p><p>Izzy nods and starts unloading the cabinet: Vial of what is presumably the pixie dust solution. Two pairs of gloves, each of which she puts in a separate pocket, in case they'd been used by separate people, rather than being extras. A torn up envelope with some pencil marks on the corner that look a little too precise to just be scribbles. She considers the bus key; they didn't want anyone to notice it's gone, of course, but if they need their victim to be somewhere else later?</p><p>Not being able to find it will probably be better than it being in the <em>wrong</em> place, and the bag is clearly shielded. She puts the fake key into its own little pocket and reaches back into the cabinet one last time... </p><p>She can feel the edges of something, irregular and almost sharp. She grips it carefully and lifts it out into the light.  </p><p>It startles a soft grunt of surprise out of Jace. "Is that a portal shard?"</p><p>"I think so," Izzy finds herself whispering, and tosses it into the bag. </p><p>Jace wraps it even more quickly than he'd unwrapped it originally; she thinks they're both getting impatient. It goes impressively <em>flat</em> once he's done, and he can even somehow slide it back into the inside pocket of his jacket without it ruining the line of it <em>at all. </em></p><p>"That is a very elegant trick," she says.</p><p>Jace rolls his eyes at her. "You can drool over Magnus' toys <em>later.</em>"</p><p>"Don't worry, I will." </p><p>Time to go. </p><p>Back to Magnus, back to the loft, back to the door of Alec's bedroom to check that he's still sleeping quietly... with Madzie dozing next to him now, and Izzy smiles at the sight. </p><p>Back to tea from Catarina for <em>everyone. </em></p><p>Izzy sips hers gratefully, and they all take a moment to breathe.</p><p>"I have a question." Catarina speaks up first. "And feel free to tell me it's none of my business, but how far are you three planning on going?"</p><p>Magnus smiles at her, tilting his beautiful porcelain mug towards her in the clear echo of  a toast.  "You know my business is your business, any time you're willing to put up with it."</p><p>Catarina clicks her tongue, and Izzy smiles into her own mug. </p><p>"You could turn over what you have?" Catarina started.</p><p>"No." Izzy interrupts. She's placed the pattern on the envelope while she's been sitting here, letting all the evidence settle in her head. Helen had shown it to her once, a form of morse code that the Heavenly Fire project had used to send notices to only <em>one</em> place.  "He works for the Inquisitor's Office, he's precisely the person we'd be turning it all over <em>to.</em>"</p><p>Magnus goes much too stiff, and she knows that Alicante being wiped off the map is still one of the ways this night could end.</p><p>She's okay with that.</p><p>But she knows Alec wouldn't be.</p><p>"How sure are you?" Magnus asks. </p><p>Izzy shrugs. "90%. Even if he's not <em>in</em> the Inquisitor's Office, he's corresponded with them, he has connections there."</p><p>"Or he learned it from someone who did, same as you," Jace points out. But she can tell that he's just poking at holes to see how she'll fill them, not because he disagrees with her conclusions. </p><p>"They drugged a Head of an Institute at a formal Clave function and had reason to believe that, even if the results played out in public, that they could <em>get away with it.</em>" Izzy leans too far forward in her chair, her voice a hiss as the rage in her gut tries to boil over. She swallows, puts her mug down on the coffee table, and makes herself sit back. Pretends she's calm. </p><p>Pixie dust would have made her brother lose all self-control, could have cost him the most important parts of his identity, and if Magnus hadn't been there? Survival might have almost been worse than death, and pixie dust isn't merciful there, either, the brain practically melting away as the blood boils off. "The higher levels of the Clave are <em>still</em> compromised, despite all their losses."</p><p>"We're going as far as we can, and we'll clean up whatever needs cleaning afterwards." Jace answers Catarina's original question. "How's Alec doing?"</p><p>Izzy kicks the side of his leg, but luckily Catarina just shakes her head, a hint of a smile on her face. </p><p>"I wasn't suggesting you stop, Nephilim. I just wanted to make sure you could keep up with him." She points at Magnus, who takes another sip of his tea and somehow manages to look entirely too innocent to have ever had an untoward thought. "Your brother is fine, I have several spells set to monitor him. He probably won't wake up for another ten to twelve hours though."</p><p>"That gives us time to wrap them all up in a nice present for him, then." Izzy shifts her focus back to Magnus. "You have a plan?"</p><p>"You're not going to like it." Magnus blinks at her, slow and steady, and she catches a hint of gold, then red, between his lashes. "Or Jace isn't. You'll have to let me know."</p><p>Jace waves a hand at him to keep going.</p><p>"We're going to send him in." Magnus tilts his head, clearly indicating the man in the guest room.</p><p>"The vegetable?" Jace asks. He looks unimpressed. </p><p>"Well." Magnus' face scrunches up, as if he doesn't even want to hear whatever he's planning to say next. "One of you. In his body."</p><p>The silence after that is very heavy.</p><p>"What." Catarina breaks it first.</p><p>"Well, after the whole..." Magnus trails off, waved a hand in a vague circle in the air. "Azazel, thing."</p><p>Jace winces. </p><p>"I figured out how he did it, and how it could be done by a warlock instead?"</p><p>"What?" Catarina repeats, louder and higher pitched than the last time. </p><p>"I don't like being surprised," Magnus replies, his voice surprisingly steady, and Izzy decides that really is all the explanation needed, considering. </p><p>"But you ripped out his memories," Jace said. "How are we supposed to be him if he's brain-dead."</p><p>"If he's magically brain-dead," Catarina pauses, glances at Magnus just long enough to get a nod in confirmation, "then his physical brain is fine. You'll be able to walk around as him." </p><p>"And he'll then be a vegetable in one of our bodies?" Izzy asks.</p><p>Magnus' face scrunches up again as he nods. </p><p>
  <em>Ew. </em>
</p><p>"Don't forget, whichever one of you Magnus switches will be walking around in a body with a full-strength Circle rune, and all the limits that places on you." Catarina frowns into her mug. "And Magnus is the only one who knows how to get you <em>back.</em>"</p><p>Izzy suppresses a shudder. It's a risk... but it's for Alec. "I studied the limits of the Circle rune, and the slightly modified one the Clave used, after Hodge..." she stops. After Hodge covers a lot of things. "I think I can work around them."</p><p>Jace looks even less happy about that than he had about bringing "the vegetable" into it in the first place, but he doesn't argue. They both know Jace is a better fighter, both by inclination and via his ability to activate his runes as needed; he'll be more help as back-up in his own body, if things go wrong. </p><p>"We have his memories." Magnus says.</p><p>Isabelle nods, lets out a breath. "Let's figure out where we need to go."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: bodyswap</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cat helps Magnus sieve the man's memories; his name is Martin Brightfleur and his memories are mostly entirely banal and innocuous, which she can tell disturbs the Lightwoods tremendously, considering what he'd tried to do to their brother.</p><p>There's no real hatred there, and the man's barely aware of his own prejudices. There's no sense of responsibility either, in regards his actions; he's not a zealot like Valentine, he just wants to keep his world comfortable, and narrow, and this seemed like an easy enough thing to do.</p><p>Jace has to take a break at that point, and stomp around the room a few times so he doesn't hit anything.</p><p>She doesn't blame him, but it makes her feel older and more tired than she'd like, when there's so much still left to do before they're done.  </p><p>They're reasonably sure they've found everything useful and organized it so it'll be easier for Isabelle to access; everything that connects to his thoughts about his mission tonight. They know how he got his order, the poison... and most importantly, where he's supposed to go tonight to check in and return whatever's left in the vial, so there's no evidence lying around. </p><p>They give Isabelle the memories, and while she takes a fifteen minute nap to help her brain settle, Catarina makes Magnus show her how to do the body-swap, and how to undo it. </p><p>Twice.</p><p>They shift Martin over, and settle Isabelle into the bed next to him.</p><p>Catarina has to swallow a laugh at the expression on her face. She looks just like Madzie does when faced with a new food she has to try. </p><p>
  <em>Ew. </em>
</p><p>Cat starts the spell before Magnus can, ignoring his sputtering protests.</p><p>He's Isabelle's back-up out there, while Catarina is staying safely behind Magnus' wards with Alec and Madzie. She has plenty left to give. </p><p>She would have suggested it before she started, but Magnus would have argued, and he would have been wrong, so this saved them all the time and effort. </p><p>Jace snickers, and she lets her magic wash through her with a smile.</p><p>She likes these damn Nephilim children, and realizes she'd cheerfully help Magnus nuke Alicante, consequences be damned, if that was what it took to protect them.</p><p>Even more surprisingly, she'll refrain from suggesting it until she has to, because she's starting to think that maybe Alec really will manage to build something better. </p><p>Isabelle's body settles deeper into the bed, and Martin's eyes blink open. </p><p>Isabelle sits up, as Martin, and puts a hand to her head with a soft groan. "Oh this feels weird."</p><p>Jace squints at her, and offers a hand. "Your center of balance is going to be all fucked up."</p><p>Isabelle groans again, but takes his hand to help get herself up. She sways a little as she stands, and leans into Jace's side.  </p><p>"Try and widen your stride a bit," Cat offers, "and lean a bit forward, since you don't have to balance out your chest the same way." </p><p>Jace makes a weird face, which isn't unreasonable in such a weird situation, but Isabelle nods, as if it's nice to have the advice codified. </p><p>"And it's time for me to check on Alec, I'll be back out in a couple minutes."</p><p>They all nod this time, and she leaves them to it. </p><p>Alec had relaxed enough into proper sleep to have sprawled out a little, and Madzie had retaliated by rolling on top of him, her head on his stomach and her legs sticking out sideways.</p><p>It's a good thing Magnus has a nice big bed. </p><p>Cat gently shifts Madzie back up onto her pillow, stroking her hair when she mutters something sleepily, waiting until she's properly asleep again before continuing. Only then does Cat run through her diagnostics, both physical and magical, to make sure Alec's doing as well as he looks, as well as her monitoring spells had led her to believe. She adds an extra pulse of healing magic to help make sure he stays asleep while the last of Magnus' potion does its job, and goes back out to the living room. </p><p>She blinks at the sight of Jace throwing "Martin" over his shoulder, but realizes a moment later that it makes sense. First step of self-defense: learn how to fall. Isabelle will want to make sure she's got that, at the very least, before she does anything else. </p><p>"Alright," Isabelle stands up straight, tugs on her shirt with a frown. "Time to figure out how to go to the bathroom, and then I guess I'm ready."</p><p>She stalks down the hall, and she doesn't move like herself, but Cat doubts she's moving quite like Martin, either. It's subtle though, and from the memories it didn't seem like he was terribly close to the people he's meeting tonight.</p><p>Cat hopes it's good enough.</p><p>Magnus and Jace leave first, as they have to portal to a location a ways from the meeting point, to work their way in without triggering any wards or guards. Isabelle shoots Cat one last fake-cocky grin, and activates her portal shard. </p><p>"See you soon." She shoots Cat a salute, and then she's gone.</p><p>Cat exhales, and hopes.</p><p>It's a good thing she's learned how to <em>wait. </em></p><p>She goes to the kitchen to make some coffee. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: Sex Club</p><p>(Just for setting, in this one.)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Revka Freeman stares out the window at the bright morning outside. They're half a world away from Idris, and she hates it, hates the waiting, hates not knowing if it worked, if it didn't, if not <em>why.</em></p><p>The waiter who'd helped them out at the reception tonight is already here. </p><p>Brightfleur is not.</p><p>The waiter, Cyril, Revka thinks is his name, is uneasily leaning against the bar, trying and failing not to notice what sort of club they're using for their meeting place. Most of it's all packed away, of course, but there's no missing the "benches" scattered around, or the way the whole club circles around one central space, a bare stretch of ground with spotlights and a catwalk above it, metal anchors beneath the level of the floor underneath, the kind of metal frame one could use to hang from, or brace... "equipment". </p><p>No one's in a sex club on a warm Saturday morning. And this one has a "private party" booked tonight, just in case, so no one will have any reason to be here until they're long gone.</p><p>They'd planned this so well, so why is she so unsettled?</p><p>The waiter said Lightwood and Bane were still there when he'd left, but he wasn't entirely sure that Lightwood had actually had any of his drink yet. They hadn't heard anything from the reception, not regular gossip, nor horrified reports, so clearly the drug hadn't caught them enough by surprise that they'd succumbed in the middle of the Hall.</p><p>Shame, that. Part of why they'd picked pixie dust, after all. Easier to hide in a drink, transmits via skin on skin contact, so it'll knock both of them out of commission, because everyone knows Lightwood and Bane are... <em>tactile. </em></p><p>And yet. </p><p>They hadn't heard anything from the guards in the area either, all reports quiet, so she didn't know how Lightwood and Bane had gotten <em>out</em> either. They'd known it was possible their targets would recognize the drug, would try and find some privacy to <em>deal</em> with it, but she thought they'd had all the exits covered. </p><p>Has the man still not had a sip, over two hours later? </p><p>Damn Lightwood.</p><p>They would have had better luck getting the drug into Bane, considering he was less likely to ostentatiously nurse one drink all night, but they'd all decided he'd be more likely to notice the taste. He'd probably indulged in pixie dust on purpose at some point. Revka feels her lips curl up in disgust. She can't <em>believe</em> Lightwood lets someone like that <em>touch him. </em></p><p>Can't believe he'd <em>married... </em> that. </p><p>Maybe they've slipped into the servants' walkways, fucked up against a wall. </p><p>She would have thought someone would have <em>heard</em> that though. </p><p>If Brightfleur doesn't show up in the next fifteen minutes, they're going to have to go searching for him. And for the targets. </p><p>She puts her hands behind her back, makes herself settle so she doesn't start pacing or yelling. They don't <em>know</em> that anything's gone wrong. Yet. </p><p>There's the faint <em>whoosh</em> of an activating portal, and Cyril goes tense, clearly considering trying to dive behind the bar, just in case. Revka puts her hand on the hilt of her seraph blade, sees Del, the guard by the door, straighten up to attention. </p><p>Brightfleur steps through. </p><p>Cyril sags with relief, but Revka and Del both wait. </p><p>"<em>In hoc signo vinces,</em>" Brightfleur says, and spreads his hands wide, the portal shivering closed behind him. Revka watches Del touch the key hanging around his neck, waiting for it the hum that will signify that it's partner is in the room again, that Brightfleur's still carrying his tracker. Del nods, and she activates both her <em>voyance </em>and <em>spiritum</em> runes; Valentine had been too fond of glamouring himself for anyone not to know that the other side could do the same right back at them. </p><p>And the Circle motto isn't nearly as hard for outsiders to learn as it used to be.</p><p>There's a hint of green around Brightfleur's fingers and flaring from inside his jacket; presumably the poison. There's a weird hint of something else all over him, an almost invisible bluish-white haze, already fading, but there's definitely no glamour, no tell-tale magical streaks left behind from shape-shifting.</p><p>She frowns at him. "You're late, did someone spot you?"</p><p>Brightfleur wrinkles his nose, tugs down on the end of his sleeves in the same officious gesture he always makes when he has to talk to her. </p><p>Revka represses the urge to roll her eyes. </p><p>"Lightwood and Bane disappeared through a locked and glamoured door. Based on the plans for the building you showed me, I believe it was the musician's gallery." He sniffs. He clearly doesn't want to think about the details of what they're doing any more than Revka does. "I didn't think I could break in without triggering the general maintenance wards."</p><p>Ah. That's probably what the shimmer was: he'd spent too long looking for a way through the door. She wonders how Bane had pulled it off, especially as incapacitated as he should have been. Damn slippery warlock. </p><p>"I was going to wait to see if I could catch them coming back out, but I thought I should be sure to remove anything they could track while I had the chance." He pats his pocket, and there was something off about the angle of his arm, something... </p><p>Revka shakes her head. They're all tired. And they aren't done yet. </p><p>"Of course." She lifts her chin, and the guard comes forward, carrying the box that had been waiting by his feet. "Give it to Del, I'll use the portal shard to send you back so you don't have it on you to be tracked. Send a text or a fire message for updates."</p><p>Brightfleur nods and turns towards Del, and there's something off again about that turn, but he's not glamoured, she'd <em>checked,</em> and he said the right things, in the right way...</p><p>Fuck, she needs more sleep. </p><p>Maybe Brightfleur is just annoyed at how much effort they've asked of him, for how little result.</p><p>She's annoyed by that, too. Lightwood's going to be harder to get to after this, and he got out of the public eye fast enough that they may have avoided all the consequences they'd been counting on. </p><p>He'll know he got drugged, and he'll know where, even if he doesn't know who or how. Unless she's really lucky, and he got a high enough dose in him that he and Bane suffer permanent damage? It's been known to happen.</p><p>She's not usually that lucky. </p><p>She frowns at Brightfleur, whose fingers are barely touching the lid of the box as he lifts it, overly fussy with a tiny little frown of distaste on his face.</p><p>Useless bastard. </p><p>Brightfleur's a terrible agent, doesn't care enough to be trusted to follow-through, not if it's going to be <em>inconvenient,</em> but he also has no black marks on his record, no complaints or commendations from the "wrong" people, and always has an invitation to everything. </p><p>She can't afford to lose him, not anymore, not after Malachi screwed up and Valentine died, not after Jonathan and the Rift, not after Penhallow deciding to make an <em>example</em> of the ones who'd been flushed out after everything that happened in New York.</p><p>Damn Clarissa Fairchild.</p><p>Damn whoever had hidden her so well from them.</p><p>She assumed it was Bane, and that was part of why they'd risked this, but if it hasn't <em>worked... </em></p><p>She closes her eyes with a sigh. They had back-up plans, and back-ups to those, she just has to keep going. </p><p>She hears an odd choking sound, and opens her eyes to see Del falling slowly to his knees, Brightfleur cradling the box in his arms...</p><p>And Jace fucking Herondale with his seraph blade pointed at her throat. </p><p>She starts to move, her hand slipping back, and he clicks his tongue. "You poisoned my <em>parabatai,</em> Freeman. Just give me an excuse."</p><p>Brightfleur starts to move, but Herondale doesn't flinch, and Revka feels her eyes widen as Brightfleur pulls out a stele and traces a <em>somnus</em> onto Del's forehead. He steps carefully over Del's shoulders and bends over, presumably to do something to Del's hands. </p><p>She can't contain the growl in the back of her throat, doesn't even try, but then there's a prick of the blade against her neck, and she forces herself still. </p><p>Herondale sighs, as if disappointed, and Brightfleur <em>laughs,</em> a short sharp sound that she never would have imagined could come out of the man. "We're wrapping them all up for Alec, don't be so disappointed that you can't damage them a little first."</p><p>"Aren't you?" Herondale retorts, and Brightfleur shrugs.</p><p>"I am," someone else answers, and it's only then that Revka thinks to look over by the bar, to see <em>Magnus fucking Bane</em> standing next to Cyril, who's bound and gagged with red sparking magic. </p><p>"Fuck," Revka breathes, and Herondale laughs. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bingo Square: Training Room Shenanigans</p>
<p>For uh, various definitions of shenanigans? (Jia's bodyguards are having a fun time, I think... )</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alec exhales, slowly, steadily. </p>
<p>He's ready for this. He woke up to a hug from Madzie, followed by Izzy and Jace and Cat and then finally Magnus. They told him what they did, what they found. They've filed all the evidence properly, they've got magical signatures, documented memories, his siblings' statements. They've even got <em>fingerprints, </em>and everyone is already in custody. </p>
<p>He crossed every damn <em>t,</em> and then some. </p>
<p>It's time. </p>
<p>He relaxes his shoulders and slides open the door to the training room that he knows the Consul uses in the afternoons, when the night shift isn't yet up and the day shift is usually still busy. He nods at the Consul's bodyguard, and slides the door shut again behind him.</p>
<p>He waits.</p>
<p>Jia doesn't make him wait for very long. </p>
<p>"Mr. Lightwood." She's leaning on a staff in the middle of the room, dressed in a sleeveless tank and plain black leggings. She looks at him, and doesn't say anything else.</p>
<p>He nods back in greeting. "I was wondering if I might join you, ma'am?"</p>
<p>Her eyebrows lift. </p>
<p>He waits.</p>
<p>She steps back, gestures gracefully at the now open space in front of her. </p>
<p>He takes two blades from the display wall, turns them over in his hands to get a feel for their balance before stepping into the middle of the room. </p>
<p>"Not many people are terribly comfortable swinging a blade at the Consul's head," Jia shifts her weight back, her gaze steady as she assesses him. "Especially not with witnesses." </p>
<p>Alec rolls his shoulders. "You should have had a <em>parabatai</em> then, ma'am. Mine's always delighted to swing a blade at my head."</p>
<p>Jia's lips twitch. "I'm not sure that's a selling point for most people?"</p>
<p>"Can't imagine why it wouldn't be." Alec allowed himself a slow swing toward Jia's side, lets his blade tap lightly against her staff after she moves it to block. He follows the motion to side-step around her, and she echoes, following to keep them facing each other. "And I'm certain you don't think so, either." </p>
<p>He steps back to avoid the counter move by her staff, though it isn't any more serious a swing than his had been. "Sure of me, are you?"</p>
<p>Alec allows himself a shrug. "Rarely." </p>
<p>She hums, and they exchange a few more easy hits and blocks. Neither of them are even breathing hard. She's shorter than him, as most people are, but she doesn't let his height push her into rushing or overreaching. He would have been disappointed if it had. </p>
<p>He's a little disappointed in her already, of course, but he's glad this isn't another thing to add to the list. </p>
<p>"You left the reception early last night."</p>
<p>Alec concedes that with a nod. </p>
<p>She waits through another half a circle, manages to make him parry three times in a row without pulling off a decent counter. </p>
<p>She doesn't seem particularly pleased by her success, her movements too sharp in comparison to the blank expression on her face. "None of the staff saw you leave." </p>
<p>Alec holds in his smile. He's made her come to <em>him... </em>he hoped he would. He doesn't say anything, just steps back far enough to entice her into attempting a sweep of his feet.</p>
<p>She doesn't fall for that, <em>quite, </em>but it's enough to make her frown. "Well?"</p>
<p>"Well, what, ma'am?" He offers his smoothest, least sincere smile. "There wasn't a question in there."</p>
<p>She jabs, sudden enough he barely manages to divert it from the center of his chest into a glancing blow along his arm. He grins at her. <em>That's more like it. </em></p>
<p>"Is there a security concern I should be aware of?" She bites the words out, follows them with a flurry of swings that don't accomplish anything beyond a nice rhythm as her staff hit his blades. He wonders what she thinks he came here for, because that is petty annoyance at Magnus' ability to get in and out of Alicante, not anything serious.</p>
<p>"A Circle cell drugged me last night."</p>
<p>She misjudges a swing and almost trips over her own feet. She plants her staff and stares at him. "What."</p>
<p>"The entire group's in the holding cells of the New York Institute." He pauses, exhales slowly. He keeps his blades up, his guard steady. "Well, almost the entire group. One of them's in the infirmary."</p>
<p>"You will turn them over to the Inquisit—"</p>
<p>"I will not." Alec states.</p>
<p>She lifts her chin, her nostrils flare. "Are you refusing to follow protocol, and defying a direct order?"</p>
<p>Alec sighs, letting his disappointment show. "It's not protocol when they're members of the Inquisitor's Office."</p>
<p>Jia's lips tighten. He has a feeling she knows exactly who's been caught, even though he doesn't think she'd known about last night's plan. She's bad at faking surprise; she hates being caught flat-footed too much to even attempt it.</p>
<p>"You will turn them over to my—"</p>
<p>"No." Alec shakes his head. "I will hold them until the Silent Brothers determine the best location for a public Trial by Soul Sword."</p>
<p>Jia's voice is frosted as she somehow glares down her nose at him. "Are you implying you suspect impropriety from my staff, as well?"</p>
<p>"No, of course not." Alec pretends to relax and slowly lowers his blades. He waits until her spine loosens just a little in response before continuing. "I'm <em>stating</em> that out-right."</p>
<p>The bodyguard along the back wall tries and mostly fails to strangle a cough. </p>
<p>He doesn't lower his gaze, keeping all his focus on Jia. </p>
<p>She appears entirely impassive as she looks back, though he's reasonably sure she's considering ordering him taken into custody.</p>
<p>He wonders if her guards would let him finish talking, first. </p>
<p>He can tell by the way her glance flicks sideways that she's wondering the same thing. </p>
<p>She'll never risk an order she's not sure they'll follow.</p>
<p>He lets a hint of his smile free this time.</p>
<p>"Why." It's more a demand than a question. She knows he wants to tell her.</p>
<p>"Ma'am." Alec makes his voice as condescending as possible. Which is very, he's rather proud of himself. "No one hires a disgraced and demoted Institute Head to head up a project in R&amp;D unless he's <em>supposed</em> to be a scapegoat."</p>
<p>"I had no awareness of Aldert—"</p>
<p>He scoffs, the noise derisive enough it works to cut her off. "We both know you're not that stupid, ma'am."</p>
<p>She shakes her head, clear sadness and regret. "While I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Lightwood, everyone can make mistakes."</p>
<p>"I'm sure your daughter appreciates that performance, Jia."</p>
<p>Alec stops speaking as the base of Jia's staff brushes against the front of his throat. Both bodyguards are stiff, their hands on their weapons, but neither of them move closer.</p>
<p>Alec waits.</p>
<p>Her eyes narrow. She knows him well enough to know he doesn't bluff, that if he's brought up Aline it's because he has something, no matter how small, that he thinks Aline would believe. </p>
<p>And that he has, for some reason, not used it before now.</p>
<p>All he has is this, that he's known her since he was a child, and he knows she's ruthless, and he knows she's smart, and he'd seen the briefest hint of fear in her eyes when she looked at Aline after Aldertree was deposed for a second time.</p>
<p>He knows she'll flinch.</p>
<p>She pulls her staff back an inch.</p>
<p>"What do you want."</p>
<p>He keeps his posture relaxed, his voice even. "Clean up your mess."</p>
<p>"My?" She lifts her eyebrows at him. </p>
<p>He shrugs. "Yours, my parents, your husband's. You're still protecting them, the old-guard, the Circle, still making plans as if the Downworld is the enemy, even now, when the Nephilim population's been decimated to the point that they're the only chance we have of surviving the next decade without the mundanes finding out about demons because we've <em>lost</em>."</p>
<p>She steps back, honest shock widening her eyes. "It's not that bad."</p>
<p>"It is, you just don't want to admit it."</p>
<p>She opens her mouth. </p>
<p>He stares at her, and she closes it again. </p>
<p>"Alright." Her shoulders sagged. "You win."</p>
<p>He sighs. That was too easy. Too well choreographed. "Prove it."</p>
<p>Her jaw firms. </p>
<p>He's offended her. <em>Good.</em> </p>
<p>"My word," she starts.</p>
<p>He finishes it for her. "Is bullshit."</p>
<p>The same bodyguard who'd almost reacted before choked, and Jia glares at her. The bodyguard lifts her hands in apology, and Jia turns her attention back to Alec, stepping closer and closer until there's barely a hand-breadth of space between them. "How dare you."</p>
<p>"They drugged me with pixie dust." Alec didn't move back, didn't flinch. He raised his voice just enough to be sure neither bodyguard would miss a single word. "In the middle of a formal reception, in the heart of Alicante, because they knew damn well they'd get away with, because they knew you'd <em>let them.</em>"</p>
<p>Her eyes widen, and he knows she's run through every possibility of that. She can figure out exactly what could have happened, exactly what that would have done to him, to the Downworld, if he'd succumbed in public. Either Magnus would have been right there with him, demonstrating to the Nephilim that warlocks were depraved and untrustworthy, or he would have accidentally touched someone else and he would have proven to the entire Downworld that no Nephilim could ever be trusted, that they would always break any promise given to someone they considered lesser.</p>
<p>The fact that the first option would have broken something in Magnus, that the second would have destroyed Alec down to his soul, is something he's not sure he'll ever completely recover from. His own people had thought that sort of cruelty acceptable...</p>
<p>And if he'd died, Magnus would have acted, would have done something ruthless and justified and, in the Clave's eyes, entirely unforgivable.</p>
<p>In any possible scenario, the tentative peace of the Shadow World would have been over. </p>
<p>And despite everything, despite her tendency to plan for the worst case scenario, despite her distrust of Downworlders, despite her firm belief that they would always be potential enemies, her need to find a way to overpower them, <em>just in case, </em>Alec knew that Jia didn't want that. </p>
<p>But after it had happened? She would absolutely have closed ranks, would have refused to let a single Nephilim face consequences, because she would claim them as <em>hers,</em> because she would need them on <em>her side. </em></p>
<p>She'll never apologize for it, but he knows, at last, that she's realized that she'd been played. This time when she steps back, he knows he'd gotten through to her. He knows that she'll listen. </p>
<p>For the first time in his entire life, she looks her age. "What do you want?"</p>
<p>"A proper tribunal for the trial, with representatives from <em>everyone. </em>Downworlders allowed as spectators all the way through, even during deliberations. No one trusts us to judge our own."</p>
<p>Jia shakes her head. "I cannot have Shadowhunters judged by Downworlders, we'll have a riot."</p>
<p>"Half and half, then." He'd expected that. "Warlock, seelie, werewolf, vampire, and four Nephilim to balance them out."</p>
<p>"And when they vote along racial lines and we have a tie?"</p>
<p>"You don't think you could find four Nephilim who would vote on the merits of the case?" Alec keeps his voice painfully smooth. "We have an overabundance of evidence." </p>
<p>He'd gone to the Infirmary at the Gard after he'd gotten the whole story out of his family, had a physical and a blood draw to make sure no one would have any ammunition if they tried to dispute Catarina's testimony.</p>
<p>Jia doesn't bother to answer him. They both know that they can't get anyone who would vote on the merits of the case onto the Tribunal, not this first one, not yet.</p>
<p>"The Inquisitor's always been the tie-breaker for Clave votes." Alec steps back, turns his back to her in order to put his blades back on the wall. "You just have to appoint a proper Inquisitor."</p>
<p>"Are you suggesting yourself?" Jia's voice is dry. She clearly thinks that's been half the point of this, that suggestion.</p>
<p>Alec shakes his head and turns back around. He settles into parade rest, his hands relaxed behind his back. "I'm the victim, ma'am. I can't preside over my own trial."</p>
<p>Jia looks at him with an expression he can't quite interpret, something softer than he's ever seen from her, especially softer than anything he's seen since Aline was a child. "You really aren't angling for the job, are you."</p>
<p>Alec snorts. "I have enough to do already, thank you very much."</p>
<p>"But who else would do it properly, Mr. Lightwood?" Jia leans forward, a light in her eyes that's frankly terrifying. "Who else would listen to the merits of every case, however much it pained him? Who else would the Downworld believe in when he passed judgement, who else would the Nephilim respect? You survived Valentine and his fanaticism, you went to <em>Edom</em>, you kept New York City from descending into chaos."</p>
<p>Alec blinks. She means it. "You want me to be Inquisitor?"</p>
<p>Something dark flickers across her face, and it takes a visible effort for her to speak. "Who else is <em>left,</em> Alec?"</p>
<p>He swallows. She has a point. They'd lost... a lot, the past few years. And they'd never really recovered from the Uprising twenty years ago, even before that. </p>
<p>He stares at her.</p>
<p>She stares back. </p>
<p>This time, she's going to out-wait him, he can tell.</p>
<p>He doesn't know, he can't... "I can't move to Alicante."</p>
<p>"You mean your husband can't move to Alicante." Jia raises her hand, and he doesn't interrupt. "We're going to have to let them in for the trial, aren't we? We're going to have to let everyone in. Anyone in who wants to see it, who wants to see <em>us,</em> everyone who knows we can't be trusted."</p>
<p>Alec nods, unable to find his voice. </p>
<p>"I'll ask Patrick to be Acting-Inquisitor." Jia smiles, sharp and somehow almost wistful. "He's former Circle, they'll all think it's nepotism to save them. They'll think you lost."</p>
<p>
  <em>And then they will. </em>
</p>
<p>Alec considers it. He has to trust her at some point, doesn't he? Has to accept that she's agreed, that she doesn't want them to lose the war, not on her watch, not even if it means conceding this particular battle. "You'll need to start getting Idris ready to be opened."</p>
<p>"We'll send a formal invitation to the Spiral Labyrinth, to some of the most prominent Alphas and Clan Leaders, to the Seelie Court. Find out what they need, let them choose who to send."</p>
<p>"You should invite the Unseelie, too." Alec forces the words out, feeling them heavy in his throat. "Or we're just going to be right back here with them in a hundred years."</p>
<p>"Five and five then, instead of four and four?" Jia pauses. "I suppose you're right."</p>
<p>Alec shrugs. <em>Thank you?</em> He hadn't been sure he'd get <em>any</em> of what he'd come here to ask, much less...</p>
<p>"Are you sure, ma'am?" His voice is quiet this time, gentle enough to make her stop and look at him properly, no longer planning, but waiting. "If you do this, if you make this a real trial, if you give me the job afterwards... there's no going back."</p>
<p>
  <em>I'll clean up your house, no matter what it takes. </em>
</p>
<p>She gives him the courtesy of really thinking about it, he can tell, in the way her gaze turned inwards, in the way she held herself still. </p>
<p>"Yes." She nods. "I'm sure."</p>
<p>He holds out his hand and she grips it in her own, firm and steady. </p>
<p>"Thank you, ma'am."</p>
<p>She shakes his hand, and he feels the finality of it, the sureness. "No, thank you."</p>
<p>She lets go and tilts her head toward the door. "Go on then. You have some things to discuss with your husband, I think."</p>
<p>"I do." Alec nods back. "Until later, Consul."</p>
<p>"Until later, Inquisitor."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, this is a little different style-wise than a lot of what I write, because I was ALSO making it to hit a bunch of bingo squares, but I wanted to take a moment to thank michellemisfit for helping me get this started, and  halmaithor for the rest, because our conversation about the time-skip and Alec being Inquisitor from awhile ago is largely to blame for the way this thing finally came together (rather than just being some kind of related fills). SO THANK YOU, LOVELIES.</p><p>In case my series organization is less clear than intended, there is a direct sequel to this here: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25006675">ashes of roses</a>.</p><p>And, as always, feel free to come say hi on <a href="https://faejilly.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/faejilly">twitter</a> or discord. 💜💙💗</p></blockquote></div></div>
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